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Family of man killed by UAMS Police officer files federal lawsuit

Tyrone Washington's family gathers at the Thursday press conference. Photo by Brian Chilson.

Posted Arkansas Times BY Mary Hennigan ON July 7, 2022

The family of Tyrone Washington, who was shot and killed Dec. 3, 2020 by a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Police officer, has filed a federal lawsuit against a number of UAMS Police officers, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson and St. Vincent’s Hospital. Attorney Mike Laux, who has filed a number of federal lawsuits over alleged police misconduct in Little Rock, is leading the case.

The lawsuit includes five complaints that allege violations to Washington’s civil rights, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Laux announced the lawsuit Thursday at Allison United Presbyterian Church in Little Rock surrounded by Washington’s family. Several members of Washington’s family — including his three children, grandmother, aunt and sister — were in attendance and often emotional.

“It’s been really hard waking up every morning and feeling like you have a hole in your heart,” Washington’s son, Tyrin said.

Washington, 39, was diagnosed with having schizophrenia as early as 2017, Laux said. His shooting death could have been avoided if UAMS officers recognized the need for treatment for Washington’s condition, he said.

At the press conference, Laux played UAMS security footage that showed Washington driving a truck while a man who he identified as UAMS Police Lt. Howard Redd hangs from the truck. UAMS Police Officer Krystal Watson then shoots Washington and the truck slows to a halt. Laux said the footage contradicts officers’ claims that Washington was using the truck as a weapon. Just after Washington was shot, the video appears to skip ahead and several more officers appear. This is being analyzed, Laux said.

“Officer Watson believed the life of her fellow officer, who was being dragged by a stolen vehicle driven by Mr. Washington, was in danger,” Taylor said. “She acted to save her fellow officer’s life. The Arkansas State Police and the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office conducted an investigation of the incident and found no wrongdoing by the officer or UAMS.”

The video evidence shows footage of Washington’s final moments, but the story starts a few days earlier, Laux said.

On Dec. 1, 2020, Washington was a patient at UAMS with concerns of back pain. According to the complaint, it was during this visit that staff had access to his records and could see the schizophrenia diagnosis — and that he hadn’t recently visited a doctor and had gone weeks without medication.

The next evening, Washington was taken by ambulance to CHI St. Vincent’s Hospital, where Laux said staff reported common symptoms of his condition, such as an inappropriate mood and affective flattening, which is a diminished emotional expression. The lawsuit reports that he didn’t receive psychiatric care at St. Vincent’s. He was discharged at 1:24 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2020.

Laux and Washington’s family said they believe that he walked from St. Vincent to UAMS to receive care. He found an unlocked, idling pick-up truck on the campus, and started to drive it. Washington never left the UAMS campus in the truck, Laux said.

Shortly after, Todd Kirkland called the Little Rock Police Department to report his missing truck. He also told the LRPD that Washington was acting strangely. The LRPD relayed the information from this call to Watson, according to the lawsuit.

Three nurses encountered Washington around 2:45 a.m. as he was driving. They described him as acting paranoid and said he reported being chased by a guy with a machete. They said he was “acting crazy” and “erratic,” according to the lawsuit. The nurses returned to work without reporting their experience.

About 10 minutes after his encounter with the nurses, the surveillance video captures Washington in the parking area, where Redd has blocked his path with a police vehicle. Laux said Redd then grabbed hold of the truck’s steering wheel and was drug several feet. Watson ran alongside the car before ultimately shooting Washington. He was taken inside UAMS to be treated for his injuries, where he later passed away.

Redd, who was named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, died in January 2021. Contacted after the press conference, Laux said he could file an amended complaint.

“I think that when police officers engage in this kind of force … we fail to realize the wake that is left,” Laux said.

Washington’s sister, LaShaun McFadden, said that he would take care of her lawn, and if he couldn’t, it was because he was helping someone else. They shared the difficulties of continuing their lives without their relative.

“It’s so hard to look at my brothers because they look just like him,” daughter Taelor Washington said.

Laux stressed the importance of this case to bring justice to the family and community.

“We’re going to take this one as far as we have to take it,” he said. “This is a big one. We’re not going to let go of this one.”

Family of Pine Bluff man files federal lawsuit against UAMS police, St. Vincent over his 2020 shooting death

Attorney Mike Laux (left) sits alongside Lashaun McFadden and Xavier Washington, 10, Tyrone Washington’s sister and son, during a press conference on Thursday. Washington was shot and killed by UAMS police on Dec. 3, 2020. More photos at arkansasonline.com/78lawsuit/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Mental-health crisis ignored, attorney says

Posted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Grant Lancaster | July 8, 2022 at 7:05 a.m.

The family of a man shot and killed by UAMS police officers in December 2020 filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging that the officers involved reacted improperly to what the family says was clearly a schizophrenic episode, and that UAMS and CHI St. Vincent Infirmary failed to properly treat the man immediately before the shooting.

The Dec. 3, 2020, death of 39-year-old Tyrone Washington represented an “institutional failure” of UAMS police and of the health care providers at UAMS and St. Vincent, said Mike Laux, the attorney who filed the suit on the family’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

“This is the result of a man seeking mental health help at two different facilities,” Laux said at a news conference Thursday at Allison United Presbyterian Church, where he was joined by Washington’s family, including Washington’s sister and children.

Laux said the lawsuit contends that UAMS police used excessive force and violated Washington’s Fourth Amendment rights, that UAMS police officer Krystal Watson caused Washington’s wrongful death, that Watson and UAMS police Lt. Howard Redd caused Washington personal injury and suffering, that the officers violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to treat him as someone suffering from mental illness and that UAMS and St. Vincent personnel violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act by not properly treating Washington when he was in their care.

The act, referred to as EMTALA, was passed in 1986 and requires emergency departments at any hospital that accepts Medicare or Medicaid to stabilize and treat anyone coming to them, whether or not they can pay for it, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Washington was shot around 2:45 a.m. near the UAMS emergency department in a truck that he stole from the parking lot. UAMS surveillance video released by Laux shows the truck pulling forward into the frame with officers running alongside it.

One officer, who Laux identified as Redd, is hanging onto the side of the truck and falls off onto the ground as the truck moves at a slow speed.

Immediately as Redd falls, Watson shoots Washington in the head, fatally wounding him. The truck stops, with Redd on the pavement near the rear passenger side wheel.

An investigation by Arkansas State Police and the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office found the actions of the UAMS officers justified.

In a statement Thursday, Leslie Taylor, UAMS vice chancellor for communications and marketing, wrote that “our hearts go out” to Washington’s family over his death.

However, Taylor wrote, Watson acted to save Redd’s life, and reiterated that the independent investigation by state police and the prosecutor’s office cleared Watson, Redd and the other officers.

But Laux said he doesn’t think that investigation was thorough, and his account of events differs from the police narrative.

A Dec. 3 news release from state police said that officers were trying to keep Washington from leaving the UAMS campus, and that an officer — the officers involved had not yet been named — reached inside the truck to grab the keys when Washington accelerated, dragging the officer.

But Laux said that Washington, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2017, never meant to leave UAMS. He was there to get treatment during his episode, and was trying to get attention by driving the truck around the campus after he found it idling with the doors unlocked and the key in the ignition.

Washington was driving around the campus in the vehicle, Laux said. Washington spoke to at least three UAMS nurses after stealing the truck but before the shooting, Laux said, and all of them gave statements saying Washington was “acting crazy,” repeatedly opening and closing the truck door and telling them he was being chased by someone with a machete, a delusion.

“This is not the act of someone doing grand theft auto, this is someone who is looking for attention, trying to get help,” Laux said.

Washington was treated for back pain at UAMS on Dec. 1, and his chart from that time indicates that staff there knew he had schizophrenia and had not been taking medication for it, Laux said.

However, Washington did not begin showing obvious symptoms of his mental illness until Dec. 2, Laux said, when he was released from UAMS and went to St. Vincent’s emergency room.

There, Laux said, doctors noted that he was cooperative but had a flat affect, a telltale sign of a schizophrenic episode. But they didn’t treat him, instead releasing him late on Dec. 2.

“We believe this should have raised red flags for any medical provider,” Laux said Thursday. “If St. Vincent’s had [treated Washington], we wouldn’t be here today.”

Washington was staying with his sister at the time, but St. Vincent staff likely wouldn’t have known that, Laux said, meaning they released a man they thought was suffering from schizophrenia and homeless.

From St. Vincent, Washington likely walked to UAMS, where he stole the truck and spoke with the nurses, who Laux thinks should have realized Washington needed treatment, based on the schizophrenia diagnosis noted on his chart at UAMS a day or so before.

The nurses “did nothing and reported this to no one,” Laux said, accusing them of not even taking Washington’s name so they could look at his medical chart.

Laux said that when police arrived, he thinks they acted improperly and in opposition to the way police are generally trained to handle people suffering from mental heath crises, he said.

Laux said he had not been able to get a copy of the UAMS police’s policies, which he called “closely guarded,” but he said other departments including Little Rock police, where Watson served prior to joining UAMS, would caution officers against behaving the way they did Dec. 3.

The officers “spooked” Washington, Laux said, by trying to box him in with vehicles, some of which had lights and sirens on. This is contrary to how most police are trained to deal with people suffering from mental health issues, Laux said.

Laux said he blames Redd, who he called “a bigshot good ol’ boy,” for putting himself in danger by trying to stop the truck. Laux said he thinks that danger was what led Watson to shoot Washington, believing Redd’s life was at risk.

“Redd shouldn’t be playing superhero in the first place,” Laux said.

The combination of UAMS and St. Vincent staffs’ failure to treat Washington in their emergency departments despite the requirements of EMTALA and the “poor decisions” of the UAMS officers led to Washington’s shooting, Laux said.

“You remove any one of these circumstances from the equation, and we’re probably not here today,” Laux said.

Laux was joined Thursday by Washington’s sister LaShaun McFadden and his children — Taelor, Tyrin and a younger boy.

“It’s so hard because my brothers, they look just like him,” Taelor Washington said, fighting back tears.

“I got a little brother, he’s gotta grow up without a father now, I gotta take that role,” Tyrin Washington said tearfully.

Faye Chidester, who referred to herself as “an auntie,” said that police murdered Washington.

“What happened to him was unjustified, it was cruel and unlawful,” Chidester said.

Teen Was Stalked, Killed Despite Multiple Police Reports Against Ex — Now Family Is Suing Officers

Sabrina Nguyen, 18, repeatedly called police for help but was found dead at a busy intersection where she was stabbed more than 30 times

Norman girls basketball team and attorneys speak in press conference after racial slur heard on hot mic

The Norman High School girls basketball team along with their attorneys held a press conference after the players were the subject of racist comments from an announcer.

An expletive and a racial slur were heard on a hot mic as the Norman basketball team knelt during the national anthem.

“This was more than just a racial slur, as ugly as it was, this was the imposition of a bankrupt philosophy on these young women,” attorney Mike Laux said.

Family of man killed by Buffalo National River park ranger files lawsuit

The family of a Branson man shot and killed while camping near the Buffalo National River 3 years ago is suing the federal government.

Attorneys David Ransin and Mike Laux have filed a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit against the United States/Buffalo National River Park.

City of Little Rock settles racial discrimination lawsuit; LRPD officers speak out

Capt. Tanya Washington, Lt. Earnest Whitten, Sgt. Willie Davis, and Lt. Johnny D Gilbert, Jr. filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city on March 12, 2018 due to uneven practices in hiring, discipline and the promotion of minority officers. The complaints began in 2017.

KATV spoke with two of the four officers who filed the suit two years ago. They said this was a cause worth standing for, not just for their case, but for other minority officers in the future.

City settles federal discrimination lawsuit filed by black LRPD officers

SETTLED: Federal discrimination lawsuit filed by black LRPD officers by attorney Mike Laux (right). Photo by: Brian Chilson

Arkansas Times article by Lindsey Millar on February 10, 2020

The city of Little Rock and one current and three former Little Rock Police officers agreed on Friday to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by the black officers in 2018. The plaintiffs were Sgt. Willie Davis and three officers who are now retired: former Lt. Earnest Whitten, former Lt. Johnny Gilbert Jr. and former Capt. Tonya Washington. Whitten is now a chief deputy at the Pulaski County Sheriff’s office. Gilbert was forced into medical retirement after he was the victim of a hit and run in 2017.

The complaint alleged racist and “uneven” practices in hiring, discipline and promotions. It included the officers raising warnings about the racist pasts of several white officers, including former officer Josh Hastings, who shot and killed 15-year-old Bobby Moore and was later charged with manslaughter. The plaintiffs were ignored or punished for raising the issues, according to the lawsuit.

Memphis family hoped authorities would stop him. She died anyway.

Alexa Imani Spencer and Laura Testino in the Memphis Commercial Appeal on January 13, 2020

Sabrina Nguyen loved her long black hair. Sometimes it went up in a bun, but most often, she wore it down. The only times she ever cut it was to trim the dead ends.

It alarmed her family, then, when a few days before Christmas, her hair was raggedly chopped to her shoulders.

It was her ex-boyfriend, again, she told her family.

He’d stolen her phone and car, court records show. A report filed with her insurance company says he physically abused her, threatened to stab her and threatened to kill himself. He threatened to cut off her hair if she didn’t comply with his sexual demands.

Nguyen gave police several accounts of her ex-boyfriend’s escalating threats and violence in the weeks before she died.

The 18-year-old’s stabbing death, the first homicide of the new year, was preventable, her family and friends said.

“I feel like (the police) failed my little sister,” said Jimmy Nguyen, Sabrina Nguyen’s older brother. “Every time we called them and told them what happened … they wasn’t really trying to help.”

Memphis police said the department did what it could: Officers arrested Keedrin K. Coppage, 22, seven times for incidents with Nguyen but whether or not he’d be released from jail was not up to police, MPD spokesperson Lt. Louis Brownlee said.

“It’s a terrible situation for any family to lose a loved one,” he said.

Statewide, 73,568 offenses reported to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation were flagged as domestic violence-related in 2018. That year in Memphis, the police and Shelby County sheriff’s departments implemented a new risk-assessment program, the Lethality Assessment Program, meant to reduce offenses.

Brownlee said police followed the risk-assessment steps in the case and connected Nguyen with an advocate at the Family Safety Center.

Coppage was arrested and charged with first-degree murder Friday. He was also charged with tampering and fabricating evidence in the case.

Memphis homicides:A comprehensive view of killings inside the city

‘We were hoping there was another chance for her’

Nguyen was goofy, her family said, and loved Dixie Queen hot wings, her mother’s cooking, fast cars and video games. She wasn’t shy. Her strength was in placing the problems of others before her own, which she often shielded with lighthearted humor.

“(Her death) is hard and devastating for sure, because she was such a witty and outgoing child,” said Nguyen’s oldest brother, Daniel Nguyen.

Sabrina Nguyen, 18, was killed in one of the first homicides of 2020. In the month before her death, she made several reports to police about escalating threats and violence from her ex-boyfriend, a person of interest in her killing.

By 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, the last time Jimmy Nguyen saw his younger sister, she had reported to police that Coppage had stolen her car and taken her cell phone. She told a friend she was going to meet Coppage, maybe to get her car back, her family said. She asked the friend to call the police, her brother said.

Nhung Nguyen, Sabrina Nguyen’s mother, had a bad feeling when the family got a knock on the door from police two days later, on Jan. 2. They told the family that Nguyen had been found stabbed to death less than a mile from home.

“Me and my dad, we were just in disbelief. We didn’t want to believe it,” Jimmy Nguyen said. “We were hoping there was another chance for her.”

In addition to Sabrina Nguyen’s reports, the Nguyen family estimates that they made more than 200 calls to police in the six months before Sabrina Nguyen died.

The Memphis Police Department handles about 50,000 domestic violence-related calls each year.

Larry Buser, a spokesperson for the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, declined to discuss details of pending cases or charging decisions.

“Procedurally, police investigate, we advise on charges in some cases, and handle cases in court based on investigative reports from police and/or other agencies,” Buser said. He noted that bond is determined by judges or judicial officers, and that domestic violence prosecutors frequently make motions to increase bonds.

Coppage made a $10,000 bond before an arraignment on Dec. 23.

“We were prepared to address the bond issue, but the defendant did not show up in court,” Buser said.

Judge William C. Turner, who presided over Coppage’s cases, did not respond to comment in time for publication of this story.

Tyren Joyner (from left), Kaylon Carpenter and Jimmy Nguyen talk Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, about the late Sabrina Nguyen. She was killed on Jan. 2.
Court documents show Nguyen reported stabbing attempt two weeks before her death
Records show that in December, Nguyen made reports to police that Coppage had called her over 50 times over a three-day span and was continuing to make threats that caused her to fear for her safety.

According to the affidavit, Coppage was identified in six domestic violence reports and a prior arrest for assaulting Nguyen. A warrant was issued for Coppage for harassment.

Nguyen then made an assault report to police four days later, on Dec. 10, and Coppage was arrested on scene.

Nguyen continued to receive harassing phone calls from Coppage, with messages threatening serious harm and death, court documents show.

On Dec. 16, Coppage was charged with aggravated stalking, violation of bail conditions for the earlier harassment charge, aggravated kidnapping, robbery and aggravated assault.

He was arrested and released from jail on Dec. 17.

Two days later, Coppage nearly stabbed Nguyen outside 201 Poplar, according to court documents. She was attempting to appear in court for an order of protection against him when he approached her with a knife in his waistband. Coppage threatened to kill Nguyen if she made a commotion, and she was afraid for her life, she told police.

Coppage took Nguyen’s cell phones, forced her into the passenger seat of her vehicle and drove her around for hours before releasing her, court documents show. She reported the incident to police the following day. Coppage was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated stalking, robbery, aggravated assault and violation of bail conditions.

Later that night, Coppage called Nguyen. Coppage and Nguyen then were gone for nearly four days. Nguyen returned home with short hair and no car.

On. Jan. 2, Nguyen was found dead near her home.

Family and friends gathered at a candlelight vigil for Sabrina Nguyen on Jan. 5. Nguyen was killed in one of the first homicides in 2020.
Coppage was arrested on Jan. 3 by U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force who located him at a home in the 5500 block of Patsy Circle East, the same block of his last known address, court documents show. A press release stated he had warrants for first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.

At the time, Coppage was a person of interest in Nguyen’s homicide, MPD said.

Coppage later admitted to being with Nguyen before and after her death on Jan. 2, court documents show. Coppage described placing her in the trunk of her car, attempting to clean blood and changing out of the clothing he was wearing at the time of her death, documents show.

Coppage said he drove Nguyen in her car to the intersection of Jackson and Maple where police later found her body at 11:40 a.m. on Jan. 2, documents show. He told police he discarded the clothing he was wearing and abandoned Nguyen’s car, court documents show.

Bond in this case was set at $500,000. A video arraignment is scheduled for Monday morning.

Nationally, Tennessee ranks fifth alongside South Carolina for its homicide rate among female victims murdered by males. That rate is 2% in Tennessee compared to 1.29% on average across the United States.

Nguyen’s family and friends want justice for her, but are unsure where to turn, they said.

“She took more than enough steps to be safe and be careful,” said Tyren Joyner, Nguyen’s brother.

Family and friends tried to do the right thing by calling police, he said. The family said they saw police cars patrolling outside their home for the three nights after Nguyen’s death, but never before.

“It’s too late,” Jimmy Nguyen said.

Hai Nguyen talks about his late daughter, Sabrina, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, at his home in Memphis. Sabrina was killed on Jan. 2. She was 18.

To talk to someone about incidents of domestic violence, call:

The Family Safety Center at 901-222-4400.
National Domestic Violence Hotline to talk to an advocate about domestic violence: 1-800-799-7233.
Shelby County Crime Victims Center, which can help victims get orders of protection: 901-222-3950.
Memphis Police Domestic Violence Unit, which will talk to victims about domestic violence incidents: 901-636-3741
Alexa Imani Spencer covers breaking news for The Commercial Appeal. Reach her at alexa.spencer@commercialappeal.com or 901-304-9740. Find her on Twitter: @AlexaImani

Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for The Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino

After Weeks Complaining To Cops That Her Ex Was Placing Eerie Calls Threatening To Kill Her, Young Mother Found Stabbed To Death

JANUARY 9, 2020, 9:04 AM ETBY DORIAN GEIGER in Oxygen.com

Sabrina Nguyen, 18, told Memphis police she suspected her ex-boyfriend, Keedrin Coppage, was behind phone calls in which a robotic voice told her she was going to die.

A young Memphis mother who was fatally stabbed last week allegedly received a series of threatening phone calls from her ex-boyfriend before she was killed, but police have yet to arrest a suspect in her connection to her death.

Sabrina Nguyen, who was stabbed to death in north Memphis on Jan. 2, had filed at least half a dozen domestic violence reports against her ex-boyfriend Keedrin Coppage, who she said repeatedly threatened to kill her weeks before her death, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com.

Between Dec. 3 and Dec. 5, the 18-year-old woman, who was “fearful” for her life, told police she received more than 50 phone calls from different numbers from her ex, who uttered death threats at his former girlfriend.

Memphis police charged Coppage, 22, with misdemeanor harassment, but the sinister phone calls persisted.

On Dec. 14, Nguyen again accused Coppage of dialing her 25 times during the afternoon, threatening to “seriously harm” her, a separate criminal complaint obtained by Oxygen.com stated. Her phone allegedly continued to ring off the hook well past midnight when a robotic voice calling from an unknown number told her that she was going to die.

“A computer-type voice told her that she was going to be killed,” the criminal complaint stated. “Also the voice referenced her draining the little love that was left; and made reference to her child.”

The call had supposedly originated from a blocked number, but Nguyen later told police she believed that it was Coppage, who was speaking through Siri to further frighten her.

Police examined Nguyen’s call logs and once again arrested Coppage, this time for stalking. He posted a $10,000 bond on Dec. 18 and was released.

Two days later, on Dec. 20, Coppage was also slapped with kidnapping, stalking, robbery, and bail violation charges, according to separate court documents. It’s unclear if Nguyen, who wasn’t named, was connected to that incident. However, Coppage managed to avoid arrest, and three days later allegedly stole Nguyen’s 2019 Nissan Sentra and her cell phone, another criminal complaint shows. Police again weren’t able to immediately locate the 22-year-old.

On Jan. 2, roughly a week later, Nguyen was fatally stabbed. Two days after that, police booked Coppage on previous felony charges. However, a spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department confirmed with Oxygen.com that he hasn’t been charged in his ex-girlfriend’s death.

The woman’s family held a vigil for Nguyen on Sunday, CBS affiliate WREG-TV reported.

“Being around her was the best thing for me, ever,” her brother, David Nguyen, told the outlet. “Losing her is the worst thing to happen to me and I’m still grieving over it right now.”

A friend of Nguyen’s also said the former couple’s violent fallout had been simmering for several months.

“She’s even sent me voice recordings of [Coppage] admitting that he’s been beating on her since October and just saying some real vile things,” Angel Langford, Nguyen’s friend, told WREG-TV. “It was just so scary and we’d ask Sabrina where he’s at? What can we do for you? Tell us when this stuff is going on.”

Coppage is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 21, according to court records. He’s being held in a Shelby County jail. Oxygen.com was unable to immediately reach his attorney JaKeva Dotson for comment on Wednesday.

Woman Told Police Her Ex Called Her 50 Times and Threatened Her — and Weeks Later, She Was Dead Sabrina Nguyen, 18, filed several reports and complaints against her ex-boyfriend

By Elaine Aradillas January 07, 2020 04:34 PM

For more than two weeks last month, 18-year-old Sabrina Nguyen filed several reports and complaints against her ex-boyfriend for allegedly stalking and intimidating her.

On Dec. 15, Nguyen told Memphis Police that she received eight phone calls between 12:10 a.m. and 12:27 a.m. and a computer-type voice told her she was “going to be killed,” according to filed court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

On Jan. 2, Nguyen was found stabbed to death at the intersection of Maple Drive and Jackson Avenue in Memphis, according to The Commercial-Appeal newspaper.

The following day, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Keedrin Coppage, 22. He has not been charged in Nguyen’s death, according to court documents.

On Monday, he appeared in front of a Shelby County judge for a felony theft charge related to a domestic violence case, according to court documents.

On Dec. 27, Nguyen filed a report claiming Coppage had taken her 2019 Nissan Sentra along with her phone and refused to return her vehicle, according to a court document.

He will appear in court on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge later this month as a result of Nguyen’s complaint that he called her repeatedly between Dec. 3 and 5.

“[S]he feels harassed and fearful for her safety due to his threatening and continuous, unwanted contact,” the report claims. “Nguyen stated she has been called over 50 times.”

While Coppage remains behind bars, Nguyen’s family is planning her funeral.

Her best friend told local TV station WREG that she can’t believe the situation.

“You think it won’t get to that level of your best friend dying on you,” Nguyen’s friend Heaven Langford said. “You never think your best friend is going to get murdered by this person because you just have faith in humanity and stuff like this won’t happen.” No murder charges have been filed.

Nguyen’s brother David continues to mourn her as well.

“Being around her was the best thing for me, ever” he told WREG. “Losing her is the worst thing to happen to me and I’m still grieving over it right now.”

Coppage remains in jail and has requested an appointed defense attorney.

Celebrating 11 Years